Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

We had reservations for our 2 week stay at this park. The night before we arrived we received a phone call from TTO informing us to not stop at the registration building. We were told to proceed directly to the main gate where they would have our paperwork. On arrival we were directed to the staging area (club house parking lot) where we could unhook Twinkie and be escorted to our site. Once we were all unhooked the woman in charge asked what my preferences were and showed me which sites were available. We chose what we liked and were promptly escorted to the site. All in all it went quick, smooth and painless. However when we arrived there were only 2 people ahead of us. More came in behind us and we were told that the following day they would have 75 people coming in. While we were here we regularly saw the line to get in going all the way out to the main road. Be prepared for a long wait during the busy season (Dec-Mar) unless you get lucky and arrive when no one else is checking in.Campground: Thousand Trails Orlando
https://www.thousandtrails.com/florida/orlando-rv-resort/Contact Information: 2110 Thousand Trails Blvd, Clermont, FL 34714Phone: (352) 394-5531Dates: 3/5/17 – 3/19/17Site#: F48Hookups: FHU sitesRate: Included in Thousand Trails MembershipCell Signal: Sprint 4G LTE 4-5 bars; Verizon 2 bars (unboosted)Top Attraction: Universal Orlando, DisneyPet Friendly: YES! Dogs Allowed.

Overall Campground Appearance / Cleanliness

Overall the park is clean and appears to be well maintained except for a few areas we’ll discuss later. The clubhouse, pool, laundry room and bath house were clean and in working order for our visit. The staff here have been friendly and helpful. Especially the woman who works the gate. I never caught her name but she’s always seems happy to see you.

Weather

The weather has been unseasonably warm these 2 weeks. Virtually dry and sunny since we got here. It has been much hotter than we would like. High 80’s in the day and mid 70’s at night. But as I type this a cold front is moving in. We are supposed to get some rain tonight into tomorrow 3/14 and the temp is supposed to drop as Wed gets here and down into the high 30’s that night. But it’s short lived and were back to sunny Florida by the weekend.

Connectivity Sprint / Verizon / Television

The signal here is strong and usable. However Pookie has been having a lot of issues with the internet in our location. The signal has been very unreliable at our site. elsewhere in the park it seems to be lightning fast so you may want to check your signal strength before committing to a site. At this time I’m not sure if we are in a small dead zone or if we’re experiencing some interference. We are going to have to start checking in the future before we park to avoid connection problems.

We were able to get the local news and weather channels as well as broadcast TV with our roof top HD antenna.

Activities / Amenities

We had the good fortune to be here during the end of the busy season. There are things to do and going on at any time here at the park. Bingo, Crafts, Poker and line dancing classes to name a few. The club house has free wifi and a large screen TV

The pools and hot tub are heated and open late. One pool is adults only.

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They have food trucks here twice a week. Also a man selling fresh local produce twice a week. Potluck dinners in the club house as well.

They have a huge community fire pit that folks gather at for fires and entertainment. Also there are smaller ones around the park. Sites do not have fire pits and ground fires are not allowed except in designated areas.

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They have Tennis, Pickle Ball, Basketball, Shuffle Board courts and Horseshoe pits. They have a beach volleyball net. There is also a driving net for practicing your golf swing. They broke ground on a new set of pickle ball courts while we were here. And most of them go unused most of the time.

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There is a Putt Putt course. It appears to have been really nice at one time. It’s currently in a state of disrepair. However I did see some kids playing a round. There used to be a river flowing through it but it is now filled with dead leaves and broken dreams.

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There is a catch and release pond but I don’t know if there are any fish in it.

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There is also what looks like a community raised bed garden. I’m not sure what the deal is with that but there were remnants of veggies growing in there.

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They have an exercise room that is adults only with some dumb bells and cardio equipment.

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There are large chess and checkers boards at the club house.

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There is a large lake with a boat launch and boat and kayak rentals are available.

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There is a Nature trail within the park that is multi use.

There is laundry facilities available but they rape you on the fees. It’s not bad enough that they charge 6 dollars for a load of laundry. ( 3 to wash and 3 to dry) You also have to buy tokens to operate them. There are multiple locations nearby to get laundry done without feeling violated.

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They have cabin rentals here. I did walk through the little cabin neighborhood. They look cozy. Some have a neat loft bedroom. All of them have a nice porch with a large propane barbecue grill. I peeked in one that was unoccupied and they looked very comfy.

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Proximity to local services

Thousand Trails Orlando is in the city of Clermont. Everything you could want and need are a short distance away.

Publix is less than a mile

Walmart is 1.7 miles away.

Universal Orlando 14 miles

Disney is 7 miles away. We can hear the fireworks at The Magic Kingdom every night.

There are multiple RV and automotive supply stores within a few miles.

We did go to the Showcase of Citrus for a swamp buggy ride about 4 miles away and had a spectacular time. 25 dollars per person and veterans ride free. http://www.showcaseofcitrus.com

While we didn’t find anything extraordinary on the beer front there is a Publix up the road that has our usual go to beers so we weren’t forced to drink any Natty Ice.

Lakeridge Winery is about 35 min away. We went on a Saturday for their free tour and wine tasting. Their wines are fabulous and reasonably priced. So far this winery has the only red I’ve ever really liked. We ended up getting 4 bottles and got away for less than 60 dollars total. www.lakeridgewinery.com

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Best Campsites

We like Section D which is wooded and has some foliage. Some of the spots are tight but you can find spots with shade back there. It is a bit away from the club house and pool but we prefer to be back where it’s quiet. We stayed in F for our stay this time to be closer to friends. It’s close to the gate and the bath house and pool. The G section looks to be new and level. It’s right across the street from the pool. Sadly there are very few sites that face north. We arrived in the busy season and spots were limited so we made due facing east.

Campground Atmosphere

The people here are friendly and welcoming for the most part. The waving and greeting your neighbors definitely goes on here but not to the degree that we saw at Peace River. We have met a few of the people staying here but folks don’t seem to be making it a point to introduce themselves as much as our last stop. we felt comfortable and safe while here. We like the campground for its proximity to local attractions but I don’t think it would be as busy if not for the location.

Adventure Dog Highlights

The campground has a dog park for off leash play. The park is dog friendly but there are NO Poop bag stations or places to drop bagged pet waste.

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Garbage Collection

This park has one location to drop your trash. While centrally located it’s a hike from some sites. This place has 800 sites, a couple more dumpsters would be great.